Mexican on top in team's home race

Sergio Perez delighted his Addax team with a last minute pole position at their local tracktyesterday afternoon in Valencia, claiming the top spot at the very last minute to break the hearts of Pastor Maldonado and Jules Bianchi.

The Mexican followed up this morning's stellar performance with a lap time of 1:45.337 as the chequered flag dropped to claim pole by just one tenth of a second from his Venezuelan rival, who had thought he'd done enough earlier to put himself at the front of today's grid. Maldonado was the first man on track this afternoon, and led the standing from the opening minutes: the Addax pairing of Giedo van der Garde and Perez briefly put themselves ahead about seven minutes in, but the Venezuelan soon reclaimed the top spot and looked unruffled as he put himself a second clear of the rest of the field.

 A fresh set of tyres for everyone seemed not to make a difference until the closing minutes of the session, when it appeared that everyone had found a power button and all started to eat into Maldonado's time: Perez left his run until it the very last minute, and the Venezuelan was simply out of time to react. Along with Bianchi's last minute dash to P3, most of the grid improved in the closing moments of the session, with Davide Valsecchi, Giedo van der Garde, Michael Herck, Charles Pic, Christian Vietoris, Giacomo Ricci and Sam Bird lining up behind the top three, all within a second of pole.

If this performance continues we can expect fireworks during today's feature race.

Valencia – Qualifying sessionDriver Team Time Laps 1. Sergio Perez Barwa Addax Team 1:45.337 12 2. Pastor Maldonado Rapax 1:45.462 13 3. Jules Bianchi ART Grand Prix 1:45.658 12 4. Davide Valsecchi iSport International 1:45.898 13 5. Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax Team 1:45.995 12 6. Michael Herck DPR 1:46.117 11 7. Charles Pic Arden International 1:46.171 13 8. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 1:46.263 12 9. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:46.358 11 10. Sam Bird ART Grand Prix 1:46.362 13 11. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:46.478 13 12. Johnny Cecotto Trident Racing 1:46.504 14 13. Alberto Valerio Scuderia Coloni 1:46.508 11 14. Luiz Razia Rapax 1:46.518 14 15. Adrian Zaugg Trident Racing 1:46.532 14 16. Oliver Turvey iSport International 1:46.633 13 17. Josef Kral Super Nova Racing 1:46.709 15 18. Jerome d’Ambrosio Dams 1:46.743 14 19. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova Racing 1:46.756 13 20 Ho-Pin Ting Dams 1:46.780 13 21. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Scuderia Coloni 1:46.868 15 22. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden International 1:46.953 13 23. Fabio Leimer Ocean Racing Technology 1:47.011 12 24. Max Chilton Ocean Racing Technology 1:47.054 14